Catamenial pads used to collect vaginal discharges are well known in the art. An important feature of such catamenial pads is they are "sanitary" in that they should not be soiled or contaminated prior to use. This is a particular problem for "away from home" use of catamenial pads. A woman carries the catamenial pads in her purse, briefcase, or pocket until they are ready to be used. Thus, there is the issue of protecting the catamenial pad until it is needed.
In order to protect catamenial pads and provide the convenience of away from home usage, individually packaged catamenial pads have been developed. Individually packaged catamenial pads are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,567 issued to Srinivasan, et al. on Aug. 10, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,917,675 issued to Taylor, et al. on Apr. 17, 1990; European Patent Application Publication No. 0 357 000 Al published in the name of Umesh on Mar. 7, 1990; and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,556,146 issued Dec. 3, 1985, to Swanson. The Swanson patent discloses a tri-folded wrapper which packages a catamenial pad, covers adhesive on the outwardly oriented face of the catamenial pad, and may be used for disposing of the used catamenial pad.
Another issue with away from home use of catamenial pads is the ability to neatly and discretely dispose of a soiled catamenial pad. Often a woman may have to wrap the catamenial pad in tissue and carry the soiled pad to a proper waste receptacle or back to the home. In order to provide more convenient disposal of soiled catamenial pads, packaging has been developed which allows the soiled catamenial pad to be wrapped in the package which entire system (package and pad) is then thrown away.
Discarding soiled catamenial pads enveloped in its packaging is disclosed, for example, in International Publication WO89/02729 published Aug. 6, 1989 in the name of Pigneul; U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,047 issued Aug. 26, 1986 to Mattingly; and U.S. Pat. 4,556,146 issued Dec. 3, 1985, to Swanson.
One type of packaging developed for such uses is the so called "fold and wrap" package. The fold and wrap package has a pouch into which an unused catamenial pad is folded and placed. A flap covers the mouth of the pouch to protect the unused catamenial pad. The wearer opens the flap and removes the unused catamenial pad. A soiled catamenial pad may then be rolled up, placed into the pouch, and the flap repositioned over the mouth of the pouch for disposal of both the package and the soiled catamenial pad.
However, this type of "fold and wrap" package has several drawbacks. First, the soiled catamenial pad needs to be tightly folded or wrapped prior to insertion into the pouch in order that it will fit into the pouch. This may cause fluid to leak out of the pad onto the wearer. It is also difficult to insert the soiled catamenial pad into the pouch because the adhesive used to attach the pad to the undergarment sticks to the pouch. Further, the initial flap seal provided on the pouch may not reseal to hold the flap in place over the mouth of the pouch. During transport, the flap may open allowing the soiled catamenial pad to fall out of the pouch or fluid to leak out to the surrounding environment.
Thus, there is a need to provide an improved fold and wrap package that provides convenient and "secure" disposal of a soiled catamenial pad.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a fold and wrap package for catamenial pads that is easy for the user to open and remove an unused catamenial pad, and provides convenient and secure disposal of a soiled catamenial pad.